Quote:
Originally Posted by Oerets
It is said, the largest amount charged for healthcare is on average in the last year of life.
Pray that one away!
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That happened with my father in law. It was disgusting. The interesting part is that he was ready to go, but he was insured and the hospital spent hundreds of thousands trying to keep him alive for a few months.
This is one of the key problems with our health care system. Spending a fortune to keep the old and infirm alive "just a little bit longer".
Our culture is petrified of death, which is curious, because it is inevitable, and is actually a passing through the birth canal into the "real" world.
But for those that don't believe, this life is all there is. It changes your world view - especially when you start seeing yourself as mortal, which starts happening for most people in their 40's.
My father was like me. He never went to the doctor. He was 89 and for a year we thought he was suffering from Alzheimer's or dementia. He kept mixing up words. Then one day he was in the hardware store and they had to call the police because he could not communicate and was getting beligerent. It took four cops to subdue him.
They took him to a hospital and did a brain scan. He had a golf ball sized brain tumor. It was totally inoperable and, they said, would have been if they had discovered it a year before. Three days later he was in hospice and four days later he was dead. That last week including the ER visit would have cost around $4,000 without insurance (Medicare A covered the three days in the hospital).
That is the way I want to go. Because of the morphene he was barely there, but we all got to see him and say goodbye, then, when the last person left the room, he died. We learned that people will often do that - Fight to stay alive until they are alone and free to meet our maker.
Mos of the cost of his care would have been within the deductible of most health care plans I've looked into.